A large majority of people in the world today use eye glasses, either for correction of vision or to reduce the intensity of light, that is, sunglasses. Most users of eyewear have frequent need to remove the eyewear yet keep it conveniently located so as to be readily available when needed to be replaced back on the face of the user. Users typically place their removed eyewear in their shirt pocket, in a container or purse, or lay the eyewear down on a convenient location. Some users hang eyewear from the neckline of their shirt by extending one of the ear pieces inside the shirt and thereby allow the balance of the eyewear to hang on the front of the shirt.
All of these methods of storing eyewear when not in use have problems. Many shirts do not have pockets or if they have pockets, when the user bends over the eyewear is in danger of slipping out. Purses or containers for eyewear are frequently not readily available when the user needs to make immediate use of his eyewear, and when the eyewear is laid on a nearby surface it frequently is misplaced or lost entirely.
One method of retaining eyewear convenient to the user is by suspending it from a cord looped around the neck of the user. For examples of this convenience, reference may be had to U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,649,020; 2,798,409; and 2,941,268. These references show various means of attaching cords to the earpieces of eyewear and each requires some type of device attached to or formed integrally with the ear piece. These devices are not easily removable from the eyewear.
Others have provided clips for attaching to the eyewear such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,766,500. Such clips require frictional engagement with the eyewear and the eyewear can be inadvertently dislodged from the clips. The present disclosure is intended to overcome limitations in eyewear retention devices such as illustrated in these previously issued patents. For reference to a holder for use with eyewear particularly adaptable for use in the practice of the invention herein, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,938,581 issued Jul. 3, 1990, to John Trickel, which is incorporated herein by reference.